A standard can be interpreted either as a signal pole (with rags tied on it), pointing the way toward a fortified city, or else as the banner of the attacking army. As with the trumpet in verse 5, the context suggests that it has to do with pointing the way towards safety for the people who are under attack. The trumpet was a signal the people heard; the standard was one they could see. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “Put up a signpost: ‘To Zion!’ ” and Good News Translation translates “Point the way to Zion.” Revised English Bible is also good: “Raise the signal—to Zion!” Another rendering is “Raise a signal pole to point the way to Zion.”

Zion: See 3.14. Here the reference is to the city of Jerusalem.

Flee for safety, stay not: Stay not is more literally “Don’t stand.” The meaning is “Don’t delay!” (Good News Translation). Many translations follow the text and Good News Translation and have two short commands, but it is also possible to express the idea as “Run for safety without delay.”

I (emphatic in the Hebrew text) refers to the LORD, and is so identified by Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch.

Evil is first used in 1.14; although the noun may refer to any sort of wickedness or misfortune, it here describes that which is effected by an attacking army, as does the phrase great destruction. Good News Translation translates the entire construction as “disaster and great destruction.” The last two lines are rendered as follows by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch: “Enemies from the north! The Lord is bringing them here. Terrible destruction is on its way!”

From the north: For most languages it will be more natural to do what Good News Translation has and put this phrase at the end of the verse, after both evil and great destruction, rather than at the end of the third line.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .